DA Davidson Reaffirms “Neutral” Rating for Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI)

DA Davidson reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) in a report issued on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a $33.00 price objective on the stock.

Several other research firms have also commented on HI. KeyCorp lowered their price target on Hillenbrand from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. StockNews.com downgraded Hillenbrand from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, one has given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $44.67.

Hillenbrand Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of HI opened at $32.25 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $28.01 and its 200 day moving average price is $36.00. Hillenbrand has a 12-month low of $25.11 and a 12-month high of $50.58. The company has a current ratio of 1.27, a quick ratio of 0.88 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28. The firm has a market cap of $2.26 billion, a P/E ratio of -10.79 and a beta of 1.38.

Hillenbrand (NYSE:HI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 13th. The company reported $1.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $837.60 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $793.38 million. Hillenbrand had a negative net margin of 6.63% and a positive return on equity of 14.86%. The business’s revenue was up 9.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Hillenbrand will post 3.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Hillenbrand Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 16th were paid a dividend of $0.2225 per share. This represents a $0.89 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. This is a boost from Hillenbrand’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.22. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 16th. Hillenbrand’s payout ratio is presently -29.77%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Hillenbrand

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 2.3% during the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 11,530 shares of the company’s stock worth $580,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Hillenbrand by 58.2% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 712 shares of the company’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares during the last quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Hillenbrand by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 51,414 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,058,000 after purchasing an additional 320 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Hillenbrand by 15.0% during the 2nd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 2,679 shares of the company’s stock worth $107,000 after purchasing an additional 349 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System grew its stake in shares of Hillenbrand by 1.9% during the second quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 19,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $786,000 after purchasing an additional 368 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.09% of the company’s stock.

Hillenbrand Company Profile

Hillenbrand, Inc operates as an industrial company in the United States and internationally. The company operates through two segments, Advanced Process Solutions and Molding Technology Solutions. The Advanced Process Solutions segment designs, engineers, manufactures, markets, and services process and material handling equipment and systems comprising compounding, extrusion, and material handling equipment, equipment system design services, as well as offers mixing technology, ingredient automation, and portion process; and provides screening and separating equipment for various industries, including plastics, food and pharmaceuticals, chemicals, fertilizers, minerals, energy, wastewater treatment, forest products, and other general industrials.